The-Rizzler

Fair enough; I will endeavor to be more balanced in my criticisms as yes, there was a ton of great moments in the series. The Way of Kings, as a standalone book, is among my favorite fantasy books ever. It's why I am so shocked at the following entries into the series and, as you've noted, the rapid decline in RoW and WaT. And I agree, I won't be touching any of Sanderson's other material if this is how he wants to approach the fantasy genre now. It's too bad as I was a huge fan of his work up until this point but wow, it's like he's just pumping out material to hit a word count.

Oh yeah, right! Yeah, that part of Oathbringer sucked. But those Dalinar chapters? Amazing.

Adolin would have made an amazing champion for Odium to exploit. All of the pieces were there. We spend over 3,600 pages learning about his prowess with a sword, his willingness to kill (Sadeas) for what he believes is right, him trying to find his place in a world now dominated by Radiants, and his anger at Dalinar for killing Evi. How poignant would it have been for Odium to use these emotions to turn Adolin against Dalinar and given him an actual purpose? A battle of champions where Odium sets the rules and seemingly transports Adolin to Rathalas before Dalinar sets the city ablaze, allowing Adolin the opportunity to duel his own father without any Radiant abilities to save his own mother. Of course, Dalinar wouldn't see any of that - he would just see an enraged and out of control Adolin intent on killing his own father and refuse to attack, desperately trying to get Adolin to see the truth before Adolin strikes Dalinar down. That would have been pretty cool and would have given Adolin's character arc a purpose beyond the eyes for which we come to see the fashion of Roshar, or being an emotional punching bag for Shallan. But having Dalinar battle a literal baby's cool too, I guess?

Ah, it turns out I was thinking about Part 2, not Part 1. But it's the right book. All of Shallan's "travelling through the Shattered Plains" material was drier than the wasteland itself.

lol yup, I assumed so as well. I read a plot summary instead of wasting any more time on this trainwreck and I am glad I did. Even a *summary* was a slog to read through - I can't imagine anyone enjoying reading 1,300+ pages of that drivel.

Oh boy, another character moping around for an entire book.

The cover.

Nobody knows. Instead of actually exploring these reasonable questions Sanderson never bothered to profile the Shin until WaT and then expected us to care about anything happening there.

Character development? You mean like Kaladin being depressed, not doing anything, and then levelling up his Radiant powers? Guess which book I’m referring to. Trick question: that’s literally his plot in every single book. You mean like h Shallan struggling with a secret from her past, running around in circles feeling bad for herself? Guess which book I’m referring to. Trick question again! That’s her “development” in every single book in the series. You mean like Dalinar, struggling to come to terms with being a leader and delegating to others, haunted by his past? Guess which book I’m referring to. I think you get my point. There is no character development here, just character repetition with colourful new artwork on the cover. Exactly this. The “story” from RoW could and should have been part of Oathbringer. There was no need for the 200 pages of actual plot development to be buried in 1,000 pages of garbage.

Lift is great! She’s one of the only characters in the series who actually does anything and isn’t constantly moping around feeling bad for herself.

While I agree it’s not the worst by far, I can see why some may think so. Part 1 is an absolute slog and the focus on Shadesmar can be a bummer given how boring Sanderson made the Cognitive Realm.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Book 6 was an in depth exploration of music theory. Because everyone loves reading about inane topics ad naseum. Or at least, that’s what Sanderson believes.

lol no thanks. You’d have to be a fool to keep reading this train wreck of a series. Sanderson had his chance to keep the story engaging with characters like Jasnah and he squandered it.

Yes, and last. After such a train wreck of a story I’m done with Stormlight Archive and Sanderson. What a huge disappointment after such an amazing start.

You just described the first 1,100 pages of a 1,200 page book. Yes, the last 100 pages were excellent and everything I expect from the series. But pointing to 100 pages after an 1,100 page slog doesn’t qualify a book as good. And no, the Navani chapters were not good. None of the Tower sequences, including any of Navani’s chapters, had any sense of impact because Sanderson decided to throw a ton of named parshendi at us out of nowhere and then expect us to care. That’s not how character development works. A far more meaningful Tower assault would have been one led by Moash, for whom there *is* an emotional impact for Navani. For where there already is a context for the reader to remain vested with. Keep Gavinor in the Tower and have Moash hold him hostage to move Navani along. Now we’re interested. But instead we get Fused/HeavenlyOnes/stone walkers/who honestly gives a crap at this point it’s all just so boring.

Yes. I remember there was a Jasnah character who became Queen and tricked a high prince into a duel, but that's really all there was about that character. Apparently she's sworn her 4th ideal as well but pretty sure that happens off book and we never really learn about her powers. Oh well, at least we got to hear all about the fascinating Venli.

Wow, what happened? What a huge drop in quality. At first I thought maybe I had been pranked and someone replaced my hardcover with a mental health diagnostic manual, interspersed with a civil engineering text book. But no, that's literally the book. And it's told from Venli's perspective? She's the most unlikeable and uninteresting character I've ever read. What's going on? Where did Sanderson go? What happened to the character development, the pacing, the quality of Way of Kings? I have never felt more bored reading a book before. Pages 1 to 1,100 were an absolute slog. That's not cool. Why do we have to suffer through another book of Kaladin moping around before remembering Tien for the hundredth time? Why do we have to suffer through Shallan coming to terms with yet another secret? Who the hell are all these Fused and why should I care about any of them when they are all, along with their hierarchy, all vomited onto me at once? I think I'm done with this series. It was so, so good. But now? No. Just... no.

I'm sorry you had to suffer through it.

Oh, I remember Jasnah! She was in Words of Radiance, right? I wonder if Sanderson will ever write about her character ever again in any of the other books.

1. The Way of Kings - 11/10 2. Words of Radiance - 7/10 3. Oathbringer - 6/10 4. Rhythm of War - 2/10 5. Wind and Truth - did not read because Rhythm of War was so god-awful I couldn't bring myself to suffer through more of Sanderson's derailment.